Tag Archives: CBT

People observe their behavior, and evaluate it in terms of how well they like it. If we did not do this, we would have no way of improving how we act. When people seek help in therapy, in self-help groups, or by reading self-help books, they are not merely observing and thinking of their behaviors and deciding how to make adjustments. Typically, their thinking interferes with their ability to adjust and often they’re mainly aware of their misery.

REBT attempts to show you that (1) events do not automatically create your thoughts, (2) events do not cause your emotions, and (3) by changing your thinking, you will see things differently, and then your thoughts and emotions will aid you instead of interfering with your actions.

Let’s say you failed at something important to you. Compare the following two sets of thoughts regarding how they make you feel, how truthful they are, and how well they help you adjust.

1. I failed and that’s bad. Maybe I didn’t pay close enough attention to what was going on to prevent my failure. I regret that.

2. I should not have failed. It’s awful to fail as I did. Because I did fail, I’m a loser; I can’t stand myself.

We’ve received some excellent press coverage in Durham, North Carolina thanks to John Boren, who runs the SMART Recovery® group there. Congratulations and thanks to John! Here’s a snippet from the article:

John Boren started the SMART (Self-Management And Recovery Training) Recovery group in Durham. It’s part of a national organization that has about 650 groups across the United States, and some in Britain and Australia.

The self-help program has attracted some people who were dissatisfied with Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as those who are just starting to grapple with addiction and recovery.

The biggest difference in the two organizations, Boren said, is in their philosophy of what works. AA is based on a 12-step recovery program, but SMART Recovery is rooted in “cognitive behavior therapy,” he said. That means that “much of what you do is determined by what you think,” he said. “How you think about a situation determines significantly what you do in that situation.”